District Conference 2017

District conferences can be a bit dry and boring - not this one

We went to Bournemouth in a state of nervous anticipation. Last year's conference, we felt, was for serious conference attendees and not for the likes of us. We needn't have worried. From the moment the conference opened it was evident that lessons had been learned. The first morning was so good that all thoughts of an afternoon in the swimming pool disappeared. We heard from Lord Digby Jones who gave an impassioned performance, and although claimed to be non-political seemed to hate Jermey Corbyn! A range of speakers gave us food for thought. The afternoon session seemed to be less to our tastes, but Sunday morning was back to information that cheered us, moved us and made us think. I have 5 "to do" items on my list!

All in all a great weekend with great friendship, helped by the starter drinks from our President and his Lady!. The most weird item was that Colin Peel had a wardrobe malfunction with his suitcase, where the zipper stuck. He went out to buy a new suitcase on Saturday lunchtime and then won another suitcase in the raffle. This was only matched by Anne Richardson who complained to the raffle team that only 5 envelopes were left on each table of ten, assuming people came in couples. Having complained and got another envelope for the single parties on the table, she then won the raffle.

We left at Sunday lunchtime buoyed up by Ann Widdecombe's fine parting speech